whats sustainable to eat or not

[corbyeire]

http://www.iwt.ie/index.php?option=com_ ... art=4#sole

lists mussels as sustainable - after reading the report here by ashley hayden it would seem otherwise off wicklow!

[Caz-Galway]

Think their talking about farmed mussels suspended from something (ropes, poles etc) and not wild seed dredged mussels thats re-laid elsewhere on the sea floor to grow to market size.

Caz

[Ashley Hayden]

No, bottom harvested wild seed mussels are included in the statistics, according to BIM this fishery is sustainable. First hand evidence in the Wicklow area runs contrary to their findings.

Historically, and a recent report on the bottom harvested mussel fishery "The Rising Tide" (if you read between the lines) backs up what happened off Wicklow, seed mussel dredgers took everything. BIM today say that lessons have been learned and that science is catching up with the industry, that today mussel dredging equipment is sophisticated enough to leave the seabed intact. Take a walk along the beaches either side of Arklow and see all the small empty mussel shells, razor fish, whelks, etc, that have been washed up after the spell of dredging that took place recently.

Incidently seed mussel from the Irish sea is exported to Holland for bottom harvesting, WHY, because the Dutch have not got enough seed mussel to meet the demand for marketable size mussels in Belgium and Holland. The Irish bottom mussel harvesting industry has derived a lot of its technology, hard ware, and a great deal of scientific knowledge from Holland and the Dutch experience. Work that one out!

[Caz-Galway]

I stand corrected and appalled. For every ton of seed mussel relaid one ton of mussels is harvested. Its therefore easy to work out how much seed mussel is harvested looking at the finished product tonnage, but does not allow for the amount of seed going to Holland. On a ton to ton basis you can estimate the numbers of seed needing to produce a ton of finished mussels. Anyone car to guess how many seed in a ton????

caz

[Davy Murdoch]

Incidently seed mussel from the Irish sea is exported to Holland for bottom harvesting, WHY, because the Dutch have not got enough seed mussel to meet the demand for marketable size mussels in Belgium and Holland. The Irish bottom mussel harvesting industry has derived a lot of its technology, hard ware, and a great deal of scientific knowledge from Holland and the Dutch experience. Work that one out!

Only a matter of time then